Right in the city centre, in the 19th century park of Villetta Di Negro overlooking one of the most elegant squares in Genoa, Piazza Corvetto, there is a place dedicated to the Far East. Facing the sea, there is a building in perfect rationalist style, specially designed by Mario Labò to house the collection donated to the city of Genoa by Edoardo Chiossone. A very skilled Genoese engraver, who lived and worked at the Tokio Ministry of Finance’s Paper and Securities Workshop from 1875 to 1898, Chiossone is known throughout the world for having designed the first Japanese banknotes and securities.
The museum named after him was the first dedicated to Japanese art to be founded in Europe, in 1905, and houses the largest, most valuable and varied collection of Japanese art in Italy and one of the most important in Europe.
